To Exist
by wrorus
Summary: It was true that Akise's love for Yukiteru wasn't due to Deus' fondness for the first player. slight Akise/Yuki.


**A/N**: A little short but I needed to write again.

/crossposted at AO3/

**Summary**: It was true that Akise's love for Yukiteru wasn't due to Deus' fondness for the first player.

* * *

In this world, there exists a boy, caused by a flutter of a red butterfly's wings.

At first, he was supposed to fade away, with no one to mourn for him or even a name to remember by.

.

.

.

To be honest, Akise Aru didn't really exist.

At least, not '_then_'_._

But he was _something_ before being Akise Aru.

Before becoming Akise Aru, the genius teen detective, he was a cluster of unrecognized data from the Cathedral of Causality. It wasn't rare that stray data that hadn't been sorted would somehow gather and form a mass of random data (of various accidents, recent deaths and sometimes even ripples in time and space) like a flock of different colored sheep, mismatched but of the same kind. That was what he was, when Deus left data unattended for too long, either when he was too busy trying to fix up the holes in time, caused by his impending doom or simply out of forgetfulness.

He had, in essence, wandered around the data walls and halls, trying to simply exist because it was his first and foremost instinct, until he slowly gained basic senses, like hearing, sight, touch and smell. Gradually, they improved, until he could hear Deus' almost inaudible mumbles, saw the illustrations in Muru Muru's book very clearly, feel the coldness of the smooth floors and ceilings and smelled the slight metal tang in the air.

He was bored most of the time, since he didn't really have a solid body to do anything. But that didn't mean he couldn't relive the boredom despite the painstaking setback he had. Unfortunately, he didn't factor in that he would get noticed eventually.

So, Deus was the first one to notice an addition to the Cathedral, especially when his work pile became lesser, the holes mysteriously disappeared and the pile of data he left for Muru Muru to finish (which she never finished, because she was absolutely lazy and horrendous when it came to work) were completed and arranged nicely.

Muru Muru never left things in order and her beloved shoujo manga weren't spared either, as they were always strewn across the Cathedral and he had no choice but to either clean up her mess or vanish them into time's limbo, if he was feeling particularly vindictive.

The god investigated and in less than a minute (or was it less than that?), he summoned the data, that had managed to partially gain a human shape, like a silhouette.

While the data fumbled and flailed as an attempt to escape his grasp, Deus was in deep thought. It was certainly a good idea to turn this cluster into a proper avatar and make him (or her, depending if the data had a preference) his assistant, because MuruMuru was utterly useless. But he had second thoughts, because stray data weren't exactly stable because they didn't really exist and there was a high chance that they would rebel against him, especially when they gained even the slightest of human emotions.

It seemed like this stray data had already went beyond and had gotten a personality.

Again, it was not rare that stray data would gain senses, because the data found in the Cathedral of Causality were somewhat sentient, therefore alive, but again, it was not common. Then again, it wasn't exactly common either that stray data would gain a personality.

In fact, it was unheard of.

The chances of the data rebelling and causing havoc raised even higher and Deus sighed.

It would've been a good opportunity to get a helper around, but he didn't want to risk chances. It wasn't like something as measly as stray data would be able to harm the God of Time and Space, but it would be terribly troublesome to fix up the mess and it would be an even bigger one than MuruMuru's books.

Thus, he had no choice but to erase the data.

That is, until a human boy appeared.

"Good afternoon, Deus, what are you doin-" the boy greeted, until his eyes fell upon the still struggling data and everything went silent.

"Hello, Yukiteru." Deus replied, as if nothing was wrong at all. It wasn't that big of a shock to erase data, was it? Although the boy, now dubbed Yukiteru, had never seen Deus done so before, it didn't mean he could look so confused. After all, there was nothing unusual about this. "I'm erasing stray data."

At the mention of himself, the data struggled even harder, although to no avail. He didn't want to simply stop existing. What would happen after that was something he didn't want to find out and it would stay that way. All he wanted to do was exist, like his basic instinct was telling him to.

He can't 'die' here.

"Stray... data?" the boy sounded puzzled. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to comprehend it. "What's that?"

When Deus explained stray data as short as possible and finished it with a monotone "that's why I need to erase him", Yukiteru looked unamused.

The data just continued on his attempt to escape, unknowing of the human boy who appeared in the Cathedral.

As Deus ignored Yukiteru's expression and was about to complete the erasure process, Yukiteru interrupted him.

"Deus, don't erase him." the human said in an unusually grave voice, which was noticed by the data that suddenly stopped struggling when he heard Yukiteru's interruption. "That's just... sad."

"Why, Yukiteru?"

Yukiteru still looked unamused and as far as the data could tell, had... sympathy, which was strange. "Because he just wants to exist, right?" he paused for a moment, looking contemplative. "That's not a bad thing."

The data was, as close to human emotions, shocked by Yukiteru's words and in the process, felt extremely thankful to him. He didn't know what to think, but he didn't mind getting erased after being exposed to his kindness.

Deus just looked entertained by the boy's opinion on the current situation and loosened his hold on the stray, which went unnoticed by the data since he was becoming enamored of Yukiteru.

"Alright, Yukiteru." Deus said, deciding to humor the boy. It was a win-win situation as well, especially when he could use the data for the upcoming game and as a fail-safe, in case some trouble stirs up. "I'll store him away for... later use."

That was before.

Later on, he became Akise Aru, Deus' secret observer of the game and part-time detective.

Even after his time as a cluster of data was erased, he never did forget the feeling of wanting a black haired boy with sea blue eyes, to stare back at him with kindness and love.

When Akise saw him again, the boy that appeared in his dreams who saved him countless of times, he promised to protect him, even if it meant Akise dying.

He didn't get why it seemed so bad at first.

.

.

.

But as said before, he didn't really exist '_then_'.

Akise Aru was a being only found in the Second World of the universe, because in the First World, he was erased and forgotten.

However, in this world, the Second World, he existed, because Second's actions had caused First to go home earlier than he should've, therefore discovering Deus almost erasing the data.

Akise Aru was erased from the First World.

But here?

He exists.

* * *

**A/N**: So I have a headcanon that Akise didn't exist in the First World, only in the Second World, because of First-World!Yuno appearing. I'm a big fan of the ripple effect, you see. Also, in some meetings with diary holders, Yuno seems like she knows the gist (or maybe all, idk, since she did experience the game before, in a different manner) of their plans. However, when it came to Akise, she seemed more... uncertain (especially after Akise lies about being a diary user), as if she hasn't seen him before and doesn't have an advantage when it comes to Akise. Maybe it's just me, but hell yeah, headcanon.


End file.
